Pitch's Remnant
by idon'tbelieveso
Summary: Pitch can't escape the nightmares alone, so he manages to cast out a small portion of himself to break his cycle of fear - giving the remnant his best memory. But can the remnant manage to free Pitch with Gaurdians ever present? (humor/adventure/light horror/friendship/Pitch, Nightlight, Jack, Sandy, North mostly)
1. remnant's first night

It is inescapably dark. Cold seeps into the recesses and crevices and hallways that cannot be seen with the eye. A man, pale and slender, lies supine against ground so smooth it could be polished ice, eyes open wide but lacking focus. His pupils dart and dodge chaotically. It is so dark, however, that no one would notice this man's presence except for the harsh sound a desert might make in a strong wind storm. Sand grating against sand. Violently. Endlessly.

And on occasion – the cry of a horse.

Pitch, paralyzed by his own element, had cast out a fair piece of himself, strewing his newest creature with memories, goals, and power as desperate payment for escape. The price had been steep. Nightmare sand constricted more tightly on the man's form, an army of darkness focused entirely on one immortal. His only chance now stood yards away.

The shadow watched him from within this dark field, stretching itself into a definable shape uncertainly. It thought hard on the form of Pitch Black, surrounded by nightmare sand waging fierce competition with it's various parts, prolonging his rare instance of fear. Not a millimeter of chance would be given to wake him from his moment of failure. To free him.

An unnerving nausea grew inside the shade until felt forced to crawl and slink out of the netherworld enveloping it's greater self, the man trapped in stagnant fear, and tried to form a solid shape. All it desired for now, was simple definition.

Exiting proved easy. The remnant of Pitch did not fear the nightmares, but neither did the genuine article, it was the failure with the Guardians that had brought the speck of fear they fed off. A single moment repeating.

A feeling barraged it outside the safety of the dark pit it had left, overwhelming its senses upon experiencing the world for the first time. Its equivalent of eyes rolled to the partial moon above. From the scythe shape came a thickly frustrated sensation of firm disapproval which, curiously, brought an sharp ache to the heart of the shadow. _Go back to your origin_, it seemed to plead.

The creature shuddered and looked away.

Out in the spring night warmth bathed it, exotic and welcoming as it struggled with it's first interaction with the Man in the Moon. Night embraced it like a security blanket, reassuringly familiar. Distraction leaked in, noises and lights making themselves apparent from a distance, coaxing it to explore as it tried again to visualize a solid, rather than unstable, existence since waking . It felt like alphabet soup that wanted to be a novel.

Delicacies of the five senses awarded it upon entering the outskirts of the town flickering and moving about. Shadows sprawled lazily, with a few warping themselves to speeding cars and brisk pedestrians with cellphones. People called to it like walking appetizers.

It hunted for them.

A group of teenagers exited a theater and it scrambled behind them. They were delightful, draped in blacks and surprisingly bright colors where you least expected, even adorning their faces with gaunt colors below their eyes. Mixed genders paraded. A boy in baggy pants jingled as his decorative chains tossed together with his gait. Piercings scattered about his various cartilages and even eyebrow ridges. A girl wore a dark, striped, fedora with a red feather, shirt lacing about her shoulders. But it was the third boy that it payed the most attention to. He too covered himself in the jewelry and makeup, but wore a billowy trench coat with buttons and more intricate chain work and clips.

It followed them, enjoying their presence and vitality while focusing._ Really_ focusing. One does not go from two dimensions to three easily as a sentient stain on the sidewalk.

First came limbs and torso, the body lacking a head, and then came a poor representation of the trench coat, a few chains added to appear more accurate. An odd site followed the teens. A shadow grew from the cement, morphing into a slender three foot representation of a human. It's cloak billowed only slightly and the dark chains did not rattle but slowly a head did appear. It kept following, watching the girl's fedora. Eventually it too formed, though lacking a red feather, and it rejoiced in it's completed form. A three foot tall specter at their heels.

Yet something still lacked -power.

The shadow followed them until something drew it from it's first companions like night chasing a fleeing boundary of sun. Someone hiding in a park.

Gold tendrils began appearing through town. They were beautiful and eerie at the same time, causing the remnant to temporarily soak in the view. Sandman had arrived. _Surely he'll not notice one small thing in the dark,_ the remnant mused confidently.

Manic laughter burst from a bench hidden under the shade of numerous trees, blocking moon and street lamps. A boy of fifteen quieted suddenly and then snickered softly, clenching his fists open and closed as he watched a woman pass by twenty feet away without noticing him. He drew the remnant close. Something was wrong. Terribly so.

The creature could sense emotions, but unlike it's first encounter with young adults, this child lacked fear of any type – replacing it with amplified imaginations and pride, nothing bringing things into proper proportion like fear should. Nothing held him back. Even brand new upon the earth it could see the twisted workings of his mind and disapproved of him in a manner familiar of the moon in regard to itself. This notion gave the shadow pause.

_What a strange relationship we all have_, it thought briefly. A cautious look was thrown to the graceful streams of gold far in the the distance. The boy's foot tapped nervously when the woman glanced in his direction, highlighted by soft street lights. A quick scan, nothing more.

Dark jeans ruffled as it climbed to the young adults knees and reached for his face with outstretched claws. No, that wasn't right. Holding a new form would be something to master later. The creature's hands pushed against the sides of his face, sending a tingle up and down the boys spine as his eyes drooped and he leaned into the dark invisible thing on his lap.

The teens imagination was brimming with thoughts unusual, seeming to excite and nauseate himself at the same time as people passed unwary of his patch of darkness, protected from moon and streetlamp alike. He grinned as wide as humanly possible. _I am the darkness and I am what they fear when they walk down the streets at night,_ echoed thoughts narrating the dream the shadow creature had forced him into. The words caused an equivalent of an enraged outcry in the shadow of Pitch. _This has to be fixed. Rearranged and put back back into place – no mortal should confuse himself with the king of fear, it would destroy him. In more ways than one._

Bright lights glinted dully off plastic holding body parts and sharp tools. It should have been a nightmare, but to the youth it was all glory and pleasant fantasies of blood and organs. The creature did not count the bodies in his mind, strewn neatly in this dream world, only observed carefully in order to find the right order to move his thoughts towards fear and rein in his excessive freedom from restraint. It became abundantly clear at the beginning that this child did not understand how to bond with others, holding a shocking lack of empathy except for himself. Everyone had to go through the same door:fear was a gateway for connection within people. A misunderstood undercurrent of the world.

At first nothing appeared as material for such a door. The creature circled about, instinctively trying to figure out the workings of it's trade for the first time until all at once the answers clicked together and cleared the way. Pieces of a puzzle suppressed by an unruly mind unwilling to be restrained finally surfaced. Now the shadow had it's tools.

Carefully it took hold of the fragments and began stringing together a healthier order of mind, reworking the fabric of the young man's thoughts with the firm coils of darkness that broke down confidence. Anxiety appeared. Then the first hints of true fear. People would begin to be less alien to him in day to day life soon. Less like cattle. His dream altered course dramatically.

Creativity flowed from the claws of the creature, giving up on maintaining total human semblance while focusing on the task at hand.

The happy scalpel in the teens hand dropped as the body before him turned into his mother whispering lines of forgiveness and understanding. Her words repeated that it was okay to feel, to see the emotions and learn from them -he didn't have to run away, not with her and no matter what he had wanted to do to others for enjoyment. No harm no foul. A fresh start. Delicious fright took hold, his face contorting horribly and feeding the shadow like a midnight snack.

In his dream, the boy began to back away, freshly uncertain. He turned to run from the body as police sirens wailed with increasing volume, exaggerated lights flashing reds and blues against the white walls of his pristine kill room. Another room opened before him and he fell in, finding himself strapped to the table like his imaginary victims. They stood over him with his same scalpel...

His arms shook as he began to experience the flood of emotions he'd held back through years of lies to himself, spawned from his bright and imaginative mind, and channeled openly now through the perforations his fright made.

_How many more are like this?_ Asked the shadowy hominid, almost finished, to the chaos brought to order around it, dream fast approaching it's conclusion. It soaked in the fear. _Do the Guardians not understand our role in this world?_

The dream collapsed on itself then. A hazy wisp of shining gold broke through, powerfully casting the creature back into reality. _No, I'm not finished!_

Terror vanished and the shadowy instigator experienced a falling sensation. The creature landed between two pale blue shoes, smelling concrete and the minty exhalations of the slumped over teenager. His own mind had twisted very far to reach this state of perpetual imagination, where everyday activities took sharp detours from reality for the worse. Now there was only hope to stop him. _Maybe it was enough? _Thought the shadow creature worriedly.

It turned to see Sandman staring, bright eyes narrowed and a full foot taller than itself. Above him scrolled a question of Pitch and his best representation of dream sand, his bright yellow hands balled into fists as it waited for retaliation.

Here a loss of words literally occurred. The creature did not know how to speak nor had any dream sand to manipulate into...well, let's be honest, an advanced form of pictionary between the two spirits. What little terror had been created with the boy strengthened the shadow, but nowhere near what would be needed to escape a Guardian. A long time passed. Sandy took a step forward, apparently thinking conflict was destined from the lack of communication.

Finally the creature shrugged, tipped the fedora in acknowledgment and hoped for the best. With a small leap it dove into the darkest shadow of the tree.

Only the portal didn't work. The creature didn't have any idea how to use them yet. The best distance mustered was to appear in a shadow a lowly five feet behind the Sandman, who whirled around to face the startled beast with a whip of gold coil. Sand pelted smartly against the creature's body, tearing the semblance of a trench coat. It's form faltered as it tried again to dive into a shadow and found a tendril of light around it's hat, pulling mightily against it's head. The fedora lost form like the creature and slithered out of the loop.

The next few scenes resembled an odd, immortal, version of whack-a-mole, where the creature formed two dimensional smudge on the ground and journeyed through the park trying to avoid the Sandman's whips. They burned painfully at contact. Finally on the fourth try the creature made a leap of ill placed faith: a dive into a cardboard box at the edge of the park and readily the darkest place available. Perfect for a shadow portal.

Sandy floated cautiously to the box and struck it onto it's side. Empty. A silent sigh came from the sandman as he readied to leave, observing the last of his dream sand returning for him to move to the next area of the globe. There was much to tell the Guardians. If this creature existed, then pitch must have escaped. He was no doubt trying to regain his power under all of their noses.

A soft breeze flitted around him in the night when he stopped mid turn. A whip lashed out and sliced the box in two as a precautionary measure. Nodding, he left the park and the boy. The child had not begun to dream after the assault by Pitch's creature, causing him unease over what could have been done to prevent even the Sandman from creating dreams in a person. None of his dream sand came to life after several long, stubborn, attempts. But on the child slept, devoid of a good night's wonder.

He left the box halves to the breeze.

**authors whatnot:**

Here is the beginning of my story. It's going to be a long one so settle in and I have a goal of two chapters a month to keep me on my toes. If you have any interesting things to comment on or think would go well with the story so far feel free to send me something!

Thanks for reading : D


	2. Young Psychopath and Emily

Rapid pictures formed over Sandy as he formed a short reel of him fighting a bright golden blob in dream sand. North rubbed his beard, watching the movie replay twice, each time getting closer to the blob until it looked like a trench coat with a hat. A picture of Pitch laughing cruelly finished the final reel.

An elf feinted.

"So Pitch has freed himself so soon!?" Roared North, anxiety ridden. One large braid appeared where he had absentmindedly twined his wintery beard hair together. Trains tooted and bells chimed incessantly, leaking through heavy doors which he now closed completely, shrouding the two in silence.

The room was just dusty enough to catch small particulates in sun beams cascading through the windows. Warmth resonated from the very air almost magically. Tinges of a robust, but controlled, fire somewhere in the building added a welcoming campy sense to the atmosphere for anyone still unaffected by the colors and intricate decorations.

Sandy loved it here. The stuff of many a good dream, but his news had brought him here and the world never stopped sleeping and waking. He waited while North thought more, the feinted elf from before had awakened and was trying to reach the base of his braid from a table top, a neon pink bow in hand. It's hands reached, but missed. Determination lit a fire in it's eyes.

"Well, I will tell the others. If you see Jack send him my wa- Agh!"

The elf had made a leap of faith into the mans chest using candy canes as mountain hooks as it grasped the tip of the beard triumphantly. It yodeled in a high pitched noise rather than a voice. Mount Everest with it's snowy tips...was within reach!

By the time Sandy turned to leave the neon bow had been firmly attached only to be lost while the elf tried to get down from it's height and found itself tangled impossibly the beard, helped along by North's bulky hands chasing it.

He stopped momentarily, noticing another who must have feinted from the action packed stop motion film as well. It didn't move.

Sandy pointed to the inanimate Elf, concerned with the delicate hand splayed dramatically over the table as if dead. North rolled his eyes.

"They are weak at knees, 'worst was when Bunny challenged me to watch 'Aliens' – never saw so many Elves leave a room so fast!_** I**_," he puffed his chest out proudly "persevered and watched three quarters of it!" One gruff hand lifted the little guy by his bell topped hat and forced him to stand, causing a sudden dance for joy at his 'resurrection.' He made gestures to other Elves that seemed to say: "It's a miracle, look!"

Sandy chortled a bit, feeling better and left North to his questionable staff. He did not know what 'Aliens' meant, but the E. Aster Bunnymund had a habit of challenging his sense of fear on regular occasions. Sandy learned to never go to his movie nights again after a viewing of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street.'

No thank you.

* * *

The air was too warm for him, but he was determined to make the most of it, this was his last chance to see children from this area until fall. Spring had already allowed for certain plants to break out of the ground in a few places but that didn't convince him not to paint the ground with a firm frost for the early risers. His last of the season. He stopped at a park, preparing to meet with his most firm believer as of late. He waited patiently until her parents brought the girl to the park at their usual time, never deterred by weather and actually enjoying his work themselves. This morning they complimented him on the 'way the frost highlighted the new shoots and blooms.' The smile on his face widened.

Emily played on the equipment like a strong monkey, balancing over the bars and climbing over the equipment rather than in or on them. Fearless, inventive, and fun.

Best of all, she believed in Jack and enjoyed seeing him on many of her outings.

"Jack!" She giggled. Her callused (from play) six year old hands clapped together from her standing position over the monkey bars.

"How are things going 'Em?" His voice was filled with the mornings positivism. They chatted about her school and the 'jerk' who kept pulling her hair in class all the way to her cousin visiting for the summer who played like he didn't care he was almost an adult. They chased each other back and forth over the playground. He iced puddles of water so she could jump and crack their frigid coverings, delighting in the beautiful webs made by her feet. Time was lost on them. Kids joined and left their group until it was time for her too to leave.

"I got a cat!" she announced triumphantly, pointing. Steam rose when she breathed from being so near Jack, who smiled, feeling happy for her as they walked to her parents. He didn't see the cat though.

"Aww, she's gone, but she'll be back! Her name is Velcro!" Emily continued, looking around. Jack did a quick search around but saw no sign of cat nor paw prints. He shrugged and agreed with her that it should come back to make her feel better.

"She's a black cat right now, but she was a kitten when I found her earlier! She grows really fast," Emily slowed a bit as her thoughts trailed in amazement. It was always interesting when children realized that even kittens grow up. He nodded dutifully in response.

"Well, I look forward to seeing her in the fall, ok?" Jack said, wishing Emily could stay longer if only because it was their last day together for months. She nodded emphatically and waved.

"Bye, Jack!"

"See ya!"

And he saw a black cat dart out of the woods after them off in the distance. _ I guess I saw Velcro early_, he commented, wind swirling around him as he hugged his staff.

* * *

Velcro followed the girl home in aw. She had adopted it without a second thought, raising its small and damaged form out of the brown box half it hid in, and giving it a name in one morning. And to the remnant of Pitch, the name felt like a gift. A gift it decided to keep. It vacillated over what to do as it wondered about the fearlessness of the girl it had come to appreciate. The girl would be a special project. Her mind would be formed like a piece of art by the time it had finished organizing her fear into ways more safe and productive with her future life to come. It was the only thanks it knew how to give.

In one morning it had found a shelter that the guardians would only find if they knew where to look, and all thanks to sheer luck. Had it a more physical form, Sandy's whip might have permanently cut it in half... It would remember this when it's shape became an unconscious action.

"I'm telling you, look at Velcro dad!" Emily shouted in the car, petting Velcro slowly in her lap. Their home was a nearby apartment complex several stories high, their place situated at the top overlooking a good chunk of their decently sized city. She carried her 'cat' in the elevator while her parents nodded vaguely in agreements and said 'yes, that's nice' more than a few times.

It was maddening.

"But we need cat food and a litter box and everything!" She shouted finally, slamming the front of their apartment door behind her in a huff. Velcro leaped down from her arms and explored as her father told her to 'calm down in her room for a bit.'

The cat sniffed at the groceries and decided to experiment a bit, trying to perch on a parents shoulder and finding that, although it fell right through them, neither noticed it's presence. Only those who could believe it could interact with it. Excellent.

The apartment was fairly large, with a spare room for guests, a small kitchen and living room, but two bathrooms. Decorations were spring like, with fake flowers and pastel paintings hung next to family portraits. This was the type of family to adjust to every holiday and season. People who embraced change.

The guest bedroom was locked and it contemplated slipping under it when Emily's door opened, a quiet voice calling for 'Velcro.' Shrugging, the cat entered into a very messy room. Emily sat at a miniature vanity table, painting with crayola colors her best version of Jack Frost and enjoying adding snowflakes into the deep blue background.

The remnant had avoided him at the park narrowly. Odd chance had prevented the newest guardian from catching its race into the trees of the very same park Sandy had fought it in the night previously. Timing had saved it.

When she finished she turned to the cat.

"I don't have any black paint, Vel." Velcro turned it's head. A nickname already and it hadn't even reached noon. Light poured in from an open curtain, making her bed glow and hurting Velcro's glowing yellow eyes. Casually it went to the window, carefully staying within the shadowed portions and formed a pair of hands to pull it shut. Thick and heavy cloth, possibly home made, blocked out a good portion of the rays now.

"Cat eyes are sensitive, aren't they?" She asked, hands working on the outline of cat with brown paint as Velcro perched more comfortably on her vanity tables edge. An awkward arrangement of hummed notes followed as she worked. A pair of golden eyes were added with the what she had available: orange. "You need more color!"

The little girl pounced off her chair and grabbed a striped scarf with dark colors and a tan section separating sections. It was, to Velcro, quite beautiful. Straightening, the cat accepted the small hands draping the scarf around its neck and let her stand back to asses her work. Emily held a thumbs up.

"Perfect!"

A scarf with dark reds, greens, blues, and a stripe of yellow was added to her picture. Blacks and tans, as they were not available were substituted with brown and the background of the paper.

When she looked up next she stared for a long time. Before, the scarf had nearly completely covered the cat and now said animal seemed to have grown a foot in order to wear it better. A three foot cat now sat on her vanity table. Unfortunately the effect lasted only so long.

The creature lost it's form then and shrunk into proper domestic size while Emily watched in excited fascination, a section of her curly brown hair twirling in her hands as she thought.

"Are you like Jack Frost?"

Velcro simply tipped it's head, wiggling a feline ear. It honestly wasn't sure what to say as a strange feeling overwhelmed it. A severe sense of loss overtook the creature causing it to experience sadness so profound it jumped off the table and raced out of the messy room and into the living room, pacing wildly while the girl chased after it, alarmed.

"So then, you don't like Jack? Is that it?" She asked into the living room. The cat shook it's head in answer as her dad asked her why she was out of her room.

"Dad, i've been in there forever!"

"Have you calmed down?"

"...Yes," she answered, sulking.

"Good -" Just then the door to the guest bedroom swung open and a large teenage boy picked her up and flung her onto the couch. Taking a few steps back, Velcro eyed him warily. The young man was entirely focused on Emily at the moment and it would be happy if it stayed that way.

"Justin!" Emily cried happily as he dropped into the couch cushion next to her.

"What's up?" He pulled a piece of blond hair out of his face to reveal brown eyes. She immediately poured her winter adventures to him, finishing with her discovery this morning of a black cat with eyes that glowed, but that no one could see except for her.

"Oh, I've seen the cat. It's not just you-" Justin led on despite Velcro hiding carefully behind the couch.

"You did!? I wonder if you could see Jack too?!" She exclaimed loudly.

"Oh, is Jack like the cat?" He asked, not sounding too interested.

Velcro weighed his words, unsure of how much the young man believed. Teenagers were the last middle ground before adulthood, with only a few still left who could believe – but considering who this boy was...

"Are you staying for the summer?" she asked after they had talked a little more on the subject of what 'adults' do and do not listen to them on because they're 'still kids.' There was a brief pause from the parents in the kitchen, preparing macaroni and hotdogs for lunch as Justin replied as naturally as if it had been about the weather.

"I'm going to be here a little longer than usual – my mom disappeared real mysterious like, probably whisked away on an adventure somewhere. So until she comes back I'll have to be on my best behavior. We can't stay up super late watching movies like we did last summer 'cause then your parents might feel I've disrespected them, k?"

"You're mom went on an adventure, then? That's so cool. Mom, why don't you ever go on adventures?"

'Dad' started snickering, trying to control his sudden transition from concern to laughter as 'mom' rolled her eyes and lightly hit him in the arm with a paper towel roll.

"Maybe_ Dad_ should, 'Em." The mom replied after stirring the macaroni in the pot and adding a cheese packet.

Justin kept smiling between all of this, eyes hollow.

Until he spotted Velcro resting on the couch armrest, staring at him.

"You guys _really_ got a cat?!" He asked loudly, directing his voice to the parents. They followed his line of site to the arm rest but did not see Velcro, who jumped into Emily's arms protectively.

The parents both laughed this time, but in relief. "Don't scare us like that – 'Em's been bugging us all morning about her 'cat.'"

"Jeez, he really had me there -" Her mother commented in the background.

Justin didn't look away. His incredulous expression set itself in a grim position as he pondered what Velcro could only guess was worry that he was hallucinating. Except that he knew better.

_I'm so sorry. I can fix this. _Velcro felt apologetic rather than ruffled now. _ Had I been allowed to finish what I started you wouldn't see me at all. What have you been feeling since that night, did my work pay off even if unfinished? Or...are you the same?_ That was the question that bothered the creature now – did he still believe himself a violent force, stalking people at night and fantasizing harm to them? The questions roiled thickly in it's thoughts.

"Lunch is done, guys." Emily's dad called, clinking silverware together. Justin didn't move.

"Justin?"

"He's just marveling at Velcro, dad." Emily stated proudly as she set the cat daintily onto a pillow and headed for the table.

"I'm not hungry yet, I'll have whatevers left over later." Justin said, voice mechanical. The parents looked each other but nodded in muted understanding of something known only to them and observed him take a pillow off their couch to his room in their peripheral vision.

* * *

The door was shut and the room brightly lit. Curtains were thrown open and even a lamp turned on in the middle of the afternoon. He watched Velcro, face contorting as he went rapidly through several emotions. Discomfort didn't begin to describe the cat at that moment, showered in light. It's shade skin pricked, but it's eyes burned.

Finally he sat opposite the remnant and passed through several sets of formalities, gaining his bearings. Was it going to harm anyone in the house? Could it talk? Where did it come from? For the last question he had even brought out a world map and asked for a paw to be placed accordingly. Eventually, however, it boiled down to the main question:

"Was it you last night at the park?" The cat nodded, bracing for any kind of violence the kid was about to send its way. Nothing happened. "So you change shape then?" Again, another nod.

Velcro changed from cat to trench coat wearing, fedora topped, shadow and quickly back. The cat was, although harder to maintain, best for staying in the house. It didn't want Emily knowing too much in case she mentioned a shape shifting shadow creature to a Guardian, mostly Jack, in passing next fall. Best to stay an oddly sized house pet.

Justin reached out an attentive hand and let out his breath when it hit fur and solid animal.

"What do you eat?" He asked it genuinely curiously.

Velcro looked a little more intensely at him in response, triggering a raised eyebrow and a smirk. "You're joking. That sounds like 'harm' to me." He pulled a razor blade out of his pocket, opening it up. "If I can touch you then I can cut you – don't go _near_ Emily. Adults are free game though." His smile widened manically but then faltered ever so slightly. It was too soon for the full effect of what Velcro had done to take place, but there were obvious fractures showing in his demeanor. Justin was changing. Soon he wouldn't be able to continue such violent thoughts without empathy or some other emotion lacing them. There could be no pure, uncaring, imaginations anymore.

_I wonder if he considers interactions with others to be an act in a play – does he really care for Emily or is it something else? His empathy was so underdeveloped I can hardly believe how he interacts with her at all. _

"Whatever you did last night, how bad will it get?" He asked, sobering and tucking the blade into pants pocket. Velcro shrugged. This boy's view had been so twisted he saw the emotions set free inside himself as an assault rather than the healing elements of his own mind finding a new balance in life.

Velcro stretched and slowly sauntered up to him, a paw forming into a tiny black hand held out in the air. The boy still smelled of mint tooth paste.

Justin looked at the hand distrustfully, but extended an index finger to it.

Gold sand leaped from his hair and swirled down his arm instantly, aiming for Velcro who jumped back, morphing into black puddle on the ground in consternation.

"Holy shit!" He watched the gold sand recede over his arm more slowly than it had come until it was imperceptible. Sanderson Mansnoozy was smarter than Velcro realized. Pen tip in hand, Justin poked at the black puddle hovering rather than absorbing over the carpet fibers and found a cat head surface with a hissing facial expression but no sound.

"Gold stuff stopped you last night too, didn't it? What is it, some kind of natural enemy to your kind or something – or is it just someone else got to me before you?"

He handled a cat head on his carpet remarkably well.

A knock on the door followed by Emily distracted them: "Hey, I want to see Velcro, let me in!" Instantly the cat situated itself over the pillow in perfect form, looking calm as day. Justin noted this.

"Alright."

"So what do you think?" Emily giggled secretively. "I kind of like that mom and dad can't take her away from me 'cause they can't see her."

Justin nodded vacantly for a second and then shook his head. "I don't know, 'Em. You don't know _why_ it followed you home... or what it _wants_. And 'her?'"

"I think Velcro is a girl. She's very dignified and graceful and hides away from boys – she was too shy to even meet Jack, and he's the friendliest boy in the whole world!"

"Can I meet this Jack?" Justin asked, voice sounding sinister only to Velcro.

"Yeah! Er, well, no. Not until next fall now – he controls snow days and fun and stuff for winter so he can't stay during the summer at all. But people can't see him like they can't see Vel. I think they're magic that way. How come you can see Vel, Justin? I've never seen Jack play with a teenager before."

"And this Jack has never does anything strange to you, he just 'plays'?" Justin continued, ignoring her.

"Of course not – he knows Santa and the Tooth fairy and the Sandman and the-"

"You're kidding."

"Why wouldn't you believe me now?" she asked, whining a bit.

Velcro agreed with Emily vaguely while thinking of the park again. It was going to take a lot of fear to release Pitch, and it had to think more outside the box to free him anytime soon at the rate of a child or so a day it had planned so far. A day? In the sun a shadow was as visible as a rain cloud in the sky. Children were easier for fear, but they were not out late often enough to collect, and teenagers required more work but stayed up later.

_Complicated_!It thought as Justin and Emily argued over it, one bringing up 'safety' and the other repeating that the 'cat is just a magical cat,_ jeez_.' So Velcro left the room when Emily glanced away and escaped outside, sliding under the door in two dimensional form. It patrolled the building while mulling over ideas, comparing gains and time lines.

And then the Guardians. They kept appearing unbidden in it's thoughts - to the point where it literally stopped and shifted perspective away from only children.

Could Guardians feel fear?

**Writers note:**

Alright, it's official – i'll be posting every two weeks now, if not a tad earlier. So Today I posted for the beginning of November which – HOLY CRAP THIS IS A FAST YEAR O_o. Well, I hope you guys are enjoying this, 'cause things are going to get flying soon, incorporating characters from the Guardian books and the movie at the same time. As usual, any questions or flame or whatever, send it my way so I can IMPROVE! : D Thanks for reading!


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